Article

In Bulgaria and the eastern Mediterranean, dried tubers of terrestrial orchids are known as “salep”, which also refers to ground tuber powder and the beverage made from this powder. Collection of “salep” from wild populations was shown to be hazardous factor for the native populations. In this preliminary study we investigate how popular “salep” is in the Bulgarian Rhodopes and to what extent it is collected and utilized. Distribution maps were constructed based on personal data, data from Herbaria, and publications from the Bulgarian part of the Rhodopes. During 2014 and 2015 we performed semi-structured interviews in different locations in the Rhodopes in order to evaluate the popularity, use and collection of “salep”. The initial data obtained from the interviews indicate that “salep” is not popular amongst the local people in the Rhodopes and especially Central Rhodopes. Most informants responded that “they have never heard of “salep”. Some informants responded that they know the name but details about use are blurring. For the moment the local human activity does not threaten the wild orchid populations, but permanent monitoring in necessary.